In Pounds and Sense I aim to bring my readers great ways to save money and make money.
So today I want to share with you a way you can save money on your energy bills and at the same time make money for your children’s or grandchildren’s school!
The company concerned is called Octopus Energy. They are running a referral scheme called Parent Power for schools (and other clubs and organizations). The way this works is that the school signs up to the scheme and then shares information about Octopus Energy with parents via a dedicated website set up specially for this purpose.
If a parent then switches to Octopus Energy through the school’s site, not only will they save money on their energy bills (Octopus Energy is regularly at or near the top of the best-buy tables), the school concerned will receive £50 for each parent signing up. If just 10 percent of parents in a school with 500 parents sign up, that would be fifty lots of £50, or £2,500. The school could buy a lot of books and other resources with that!
The scheme is open to all schools and clubs, so if you are part of a football club, dance school, athletics/running club, scouts or brownie group, get them involved. Basically, this scheme can benefit any organization you, your children or your grandchildren are part of.
Just fill in this Google Form and I will get you registered without any obligation. Your organization’s dedicated website URL will be sent (together with marketing materials for the scheme) to your nominated contact person. Then all that is left is to bring the scheme to parents’ attention and wait for the money to roll in!
If you’d like to ask any questions, feel free to contact me via my blog contact form or on social media via Twitter or Facebook. You are also, of course, very welcome to leave a question or comment below.
Disclaimer – I am working in collaboration with Lynn James (Mrs Mummypenny) and Octopus Energy on this project, and will receive an affiliate commission if your school or organization signs up.
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If you’re looking for an easy and enjoyable money-making sideline, have you thought about creating printables?
As the name suggests, printables are items of content people can buy and then print out themselves. Common types of printable include planners, artwork, meal plans, inspirational quotes, prayer cards, birthday and wedding invitations, calendars, diary pages, and so on.
One big attraction of printables is that you don’t have to spend time packing and sending physical products, as would be the case when selling on eBay, for example. All you have to do is send your buyer the relevant file by email – and even that can be easily automated using a platform such as Etsy UK or Shopify. Here is a link to a sample Etsy shop selling printable planners of various types. And no, it’s nothing I’m connected with personally!
This is a great sideline if you have a flair for art and design, but that is by no means a necessity. You can use templates as a starting point. There are also people on Fiverr and similar sites who will be happy to create designs for you very inexpensively.
Designing and selling (or giving away) printables can be a great sideline if you have a blog yourself. You can produce printables relevant to your blog’s content, perhaps setting out key information in attractive form. My fellow money blogger Emma Drew offers her readers a range of free printables, including a Christmas planner, matched betting daily checklist, daily money-making planner, and so on.
Creating Your Printables
Your first step will be to decide on a niche. If you have a blog or website already, it clearly makes sense to start with that. Otherwise spend a bit of time researching what other people are doing.
As mentioned above, you could start with Etsy, as lots of people sell printables there. Visit Etsy UK and search for “printables” using the box at the top of the screen. You will find literally thousands of printable items listed, and you can also see how much people are charging for them.
Alternatively go to Fiverr and search for “printables”. You will find lots of people offering this service from around £3.50 (the sterling equivalent of $5). At that price you could afford to commission two or three and go with the one you like best.
Selling Your Printables
There are various ways you could sell your work. As mentioned above, one good choice would be Etsy. This is a popular platform for people selling art and craft products, and they also allow the sale of printables. Etsy provide the means for people to download your printable after they have bought it, meaning orders are fulfilled automatically for you. All you have to do is keep an eye on your dashboard to see how much money you have made!
Setting up an Etsy shop is free. A bit like eBay, you then pay a small listing fee per item and a further fee when you make a sale. You can learn more about setting up an Etsy shop on this help page.
Another option is to sell your printables on Fiverr. Lots of people sell printable business cards here, for example. You may be able to make more money by offering rapid turnaround or additional services.
Finally, you could simply print out your designs yourself, frame or laminate them, and sell them at craft fairs and markets. A friend does well at this, using photos of local landmarks with or without captions.
A Few More Tips
Be sure to make it clear in your listings that you are selling downloadable items the customer will need to print out themselves. This will avoid any misunderstandings.
Use plenty of clear space on your printables so they don’t look pinched and crowded.
Avoid large dark areas. Nobody wants to waste all their ink printing out a sea of black.
You can offer editable PDFs buyers can customize as they wish. This adds value and means you may be able to charge a higher price. You will need Adobe Acrobat Pro to do this or perhaps a cheaper alternative such as PDFescape..
Printables are low-cost products, so paying to advertise them probably won’t be cost-effective. They are best promoted via social media, blogging, online forums, and so on.
Being a visual platform, Pinterest is a great place for showcasing your printables.
Giving away some of your printables can be a powerful tactic too. By this means you can attract more visitors to your blog or website, more sign-ups to your mailing list, and so on.
You can also take the opportunity to advertise paid-for products and services on your printables, including books, e-books, courses, affiliate products/services, and so on.
Printables can also be used as add-on incentives to sell higher-value products such as courses and e-books.
Designing and selling printables is an enjoyable, creative activity, with good money-making potential. On its own it probably won’t make you rich, but it can undoubtedly provide a valuable addition to your sideline-earning portfolio.
If you want more information about creating and profiting from printables, my colleague Amy Harrop has a number of high-quality downloadable guides and courses on the subject. I particularly recommend One Page Publishing Profits (affiliate link).
As ever, if you have any comments or queries about this post, please do leave them below.
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Today I have a guest post for you from Luci Olivia, who runs The Frugal Fox website and blog.
Luci is a highly experienced eBay trader, and in her article she sets out some hints and tips for making the most of this popular sideline-earning opportunity.
Over to Luci then…
Making money selling tat from around the house is great, as you’re earning extra cash and de-cluttering at the same time! For someone like me who is looking to buy a house soon, downsizing and making money ticks both boxes.
There are plenty of websites these days to flog your unwanted items. However, eBay is arguably the UK’s most popular customer-to-customer sales site. They have earned this reputation from being incredibly easy to use. They offer an honest way to earn some money, whether you’re organising your house, selling off some vintage heirlooms, or even ‘flipping’ items from a charity shop.
At any given time there are 100+ million listings on eBay worldwide, with 6.4 million listings added every day. In the UK alone there are 17 million people visiting eBay every month and 180,000 registered UK based eBay businesses so it’s certainly a way you can make some money!
There are a lot of beginner’s mistakes to be made and trials and errors to experiment with, but if you’re looking to make a little extra money this year then read these tried and tested tips from myself – an eBay veteran – to make the first time you sell go as smoothly as possible.
1. Pick an Account Name
Your eBay account name is part of what you’re selling. If you want to sell vintage dresses and your name is Laura’s Vintage Dress Store, it’s going to look more professional and instill more faith in your eBay shop than if you called it LauraSmith1975.
2. Fill Out Your Profile
Also fill in your ‘About’ page, add a nice background and show that you are a reputable business that people should have no worries spending their money with. I’m surprised by how few people fill out their profile – it might just make the difference between someone bidding or not bidding.
3. Take Clear Pictures
Make sure the pictures of the items are taken with a plain background, no shadows on the item, by natural daylight, and include any signs of wear or marks. Trust me – it’s much easier to sell to someone who accepts the flaws than sell and refund someone who didn’t know it had marks.
4. Put it in the Correct Category
I know it’s common sense to ensure it’s in the correct category, but eBay suggests a category once you’ve chosen your title and sometimes it gets it wrong! Check the category before you agree and your antique coin ends up in a category with key rings.
5. Use Keywords
Your item is more likely to sell with extra information in the title. For example, if you find an old games console under the bed and decide to make a few quid off it, as a buyer which are you more likely to click on – the listing called ‘PS2’ or the listing called ‘Barely Used PS2 Slim +2 Controllers, Tested and Working’?
6. Double Check the Spelling
If I search ‘Barbie Doll’ but you’ve inadvertently called your listing ‘Brabie Doll’ then it isn’t going to show up for me or anyone else looking for a Barbie. So double check your listing for spelling mistakes to ensure it’s seen by everyone who’s searching for it.
7. Describe it Well
You don’t need to be a salesperson to fill in the description. All I put is a brief description of the item with a few key words and some essentials about the item. For example: ‘Stunning fluffy and comfortable jumper with no snags or signs of wear. This item is from a smoke- and pet-free home and I’m happy to take more photos if requested. Please ask if you have any questions and make sure you see my other items for sale.’ That’s all you need.
8. Time the Ending
When your eBay listing ends is really important, because the more people who are on eBay at that time, the more likely it is that you’ll get a bidding war. You want your listings to end on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday any time from 5pm – 9pm. You can schedule your listing’s start time for free, so set it to go live at 7pm so it will end at 7pm in the future.
9. To Bid or Buy
eBay offers two main options when you’re selling an item: ‘Buy It Now’ or ‘Auction’. Auction items have the bonus of no top price; however, you usually have to start them at 99p to gain attention and appear in the search. Buy-It-Now items can be sold at any point and for the exact price you’re willing to pay. Weigh up your options and pick the right one for your product.
10. Know Your Fees
eBay offers 20 free listings a month but they do take 10% of the selling price so keep that in mind when you see the final figure. They will bill you monthly, so keep 10% aside for that bill. Also keep 3.4% aside as that’s what PayPal will charge. I usually keep 15% aside to be safe and keep my PayPal pot above zero.
11. Deal Professionally with Issues
There will be issues. You can do everything perfectly and there will still be issues. Unfortunately that is part of doing business – so if a customer isn’t happy, it’s best just to keep that smile on, remain professional and help them out (no matter how much they make your blood boil!).
12. Give and Get Feedback
To be a successful seller on eBay it’s important to build your reputation. So always take the time to rate buyers, and ask politely if they will do the same for you. Obviously nobody wants bad ratings, so if there have been any issues (see above) check and double-check that they have been resolved to the buyer’s satisfaction before asking them to rate you.
So those are my top tips for selling on eBay. It’s super easy, especially via the free app, so get listing and see first-hand how stress-free it is and how much money it could make you this year.
Thanks again to Luci (pictured, right) for her valuable tips. Please do check out her Frugal Fox website for more advice on saving and making money.
If you have never tried online auction selling before, I hope this post will inspire you to give it a try. It really is as easy as Luci says, and someone, somewhere will almost certainly want anything you have to sell.
In my own case, I recently sold a selection of old beer mats that I had originally scrounged from a local pub for our house-warming party twenty years ago. Although admittedly I did have to re-list them (for no extra charge) as they didn’t sell the first time around!
As always, if you have any comments or questions, for Luci or myself, please do post them below.
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I’ve talked about matched betting a few times on this blog. It’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.
I am writing about it again now because I’ve seen a number of questions posted recently in Facebook groups and forums asking, if matched betting is so good, can you make a full-time living from it? As a reasonably experienced matched bettor myself, I thought I would share my own thoughts on this subject here.
Don’t Believe The Hype
Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of matched betting, but it’s important to understand what it can (and can’t) realistically deliver.
It’s not hard if you search online to find people claiming to make thousands of pounds a month from matched betting. These claims do need to be treated with a degree of scepticism, however. Here are just a few reasons…
1. Some people when describing their matched betting earnings include money they make from affiliate programmes. As you may know, the main matched betting advisory services all run affiliate schemes that pay commission for referring new members. I am an affiliate myself, but I wouldn’t ever count affiliate commissions as matched betting profits.
2. The inflated earnings figures typically include money from casino offers. While there is undoubtedly money to be made this way, it is not matched betting and it is not risk-free. Casino offers are really a whole different ballgame. I don’t touch this type of offer myself, except occasionally when I am offered free spins by an online bookmaker.
3. Some of the people making big money are doing so by setting up multiple accounts, e.g. in the names of friends or relatives. They then take advantage of bookmakers’ introductory offers several times over. This is of course completely against bookmakers’ rules and regulations, and may well be illegal. It is not something I would ever advocate doing myself.
Also, despite the claims that matched betting is suitable for everyone, there are some people who probably shouldn’t do it at all. I am thinking especially here of people who may have (or develop) a gambling addiction. Matched betting itself isn’t gambling, but if you think it might draw you into it, then you may be best looking elsewhere to generate a sideline income.
There are also some people who struggle with the practical aspects of matched betting. It’s not rocket science, but you do need a basic grasp of mathematics, and to be well organised and logical. If not, there is a real risk you will get stressed out, make mistakes, and lose money as a result.
The Reality
One key fact about matched betting is that the best opportunities are presented by the introductory offers. By following matched betting principles, you can earn a genuine risk-free thousand pounds or more from these.
Once you have exhausted these offers, however, it does become more difficult (and time consuming). There are so-called reload offers, but these are typically not risk-free. An example is horse-racing refunds. This is where you back and lay a horse in a race and hope that a particular outcome occurs that triggers a refund from the bookmaker.
An example would be if a bookie offers to refund your stake if your horse comes second in a race. If the horse does come second, you get your stake money returned by the bookmaker but also win the lay bet, giving you a net profit. This type of offer can be profitable in the long run, but a lot of the time you will lose a small amount backing and laying when the refund-triggering event doesn’t occur.
For all these reasons, as you may have guessed, I don’t recommend looking to matched betting to provide a full-time income. And I definitely don’t recommend giving up your job to do it full-time. After the first month or two you will be relying on reload offers, and this is no way to generate a reliable monthly income that you – and perhaps your family – can live off.
In my opinion matched betting is best regarded as a tax-free moneymaking sideline which you can use to supplement other sources of income. If you are new to matched betting the welcome offers can also provide a quick financial boost – maybe to pay off debts or fund a holiday or other large purchase. But bear in mind that after a month or two, making money this way is likely to become a lot harder as the sign-up offers run out.
Advisory Services
I’ve said this before, but if you’re new to matched betting, I strongly recommend joining up with a matched betting advisory service. As well as providing tutorials to get you up to speed, these services provide essential online tools, including oddsmatching software and calculators. They will also alert you to a wide range of money-making opportunities, and offer support and advice if needed.
There are various advisory services you can use. I currently recommend the popular Outplayed service (formerly Profit Accumulator), This is a dedicated matched betting website. You can join free initially and they will provide details of two offers you can take advantage of straight away. These should make you up to £40 in net profit.
If you wish to proceed further, you can then pay a monthly fee (currently £29.99) to become a ‘Platinum’ member and get access to Outplayed’s full range of betting offers and services. If you are interested in casino offers as well, you can sign up to their ‘Diamond’ service, which additionally gives you access to casino offers and software and costs £49.99 a month.
As well as detailed instructions on offers, Outplayed also provide various online tools you can use. Their oddsmatcher, for example, helps you find markets where the back and lay odds are as close as possible, so you can minimize your losses on qualifying bets and maximize the value of your free bets. They also have calculators, where you enter the back and lay odds and how much you want to bet at the bookmaker. The calculator then reveals how much you need to lay at the exchange to guarantee a set profit (or qualifying loss) with either outcome.
A further advantage of joining Outplayed is that you get access to the members-only community forum, where you can get any questions you may have answered by more experienced members and/or the Outplayed team.
For more information about Outplayed and its different membership levels, just click through this link [affiliate].
If you are at all sceptical about the Outplayed service, you might like to check out the reviews on the independent Trust Pilot website. They currently average 4.7 out of 5 stars, with 89% of respondents awarding them a five star (‘Excellent’) rating. That is one of the highest average ratings I can recall seeing on Trust Pilot.
As ever, if you have any questions or comments about matched betting, please do post them below.
Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase at the site in question, I will receive a commission for introducing you. This will not affect in any way the cost of the service to you or the benefits you will receive.
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Your kitchen is perhaps the most important room in your home. It’s where you spend time with your family, catching up on the day and cooking meals. However, it’s also important in terms of finance – you can end up spending a lot on your kitchen, and you don’t always need to. Here’s how you can save and make money on your kitchen.
Save Money
Renovate
If you’d like to have a new kitchen but you just don’t have the finances, you can save a lot of money by renovating it yourself. You can do it in stages too which will help you to spread the cost. Even if you can’t afford to change the whole kitchen, you can upgrade certain aspects on a budget, simply by being thrifty. Start with your units – paint costs less than £20 and can make an enormous difference – and once you have painted you can swap the handles for something different by heading to eBay or your local DIY store. Next, take a look at your worktops – granite is on trend and is currently quite affordable. There’s a lot that you can do to your kitchen without fully renovating it, and you may be surprised at the difference that it can make.
Buy Used/Ex-Display
Sometimes, only a new kitchen will do. It may be that yours is beyond saving, or that you have simply grown out of it. If that is the case, you don’t have to go all out on a brand spanking new kitchen from a showroom. Instead, you should look at used kitchens. Buying a used kitchen means that you can get a great (often designer) kitchen for a fraction of the price. However, avoid your local selling pages and go straight to a trusted re-seller such as Used Kitchen Exchange. Before you buy a kitchen, you’ll need to know information such as the measurements and what is included in the sale – you can get all of this information from the Used Kitchen Exchange website. The company has a wide range of kitchens in stock for every taste and size – from wooden kitchens to sleek, contemporary European kitchens.
Make Money
Sell Your Kitchen
If your kitchen is still in good condition and you’re just ready for a change, you can put some money towards the cost of your new kitchen by selling your current one. You can approach a recommended re-seller such as Used Kitchen Exchange, who will manage every step of the sales process for you – from photographing and listing your kitchen to finding a buyer. You can relax and wait for the money to come through.
Sell Your Appliances
Perhaps you have a coffee maker that you never use, or a spiraliser from the health kick you promised you’d go on but you never did. Whilst these appliances are collecting dust in your cupboard, they could be making you money! Sell them on eBay or Gumtree and put the cash towards your new kitchen.
Thank you to the team behind Used Kitchen Exchange for an interesting guest post (for which I am receiving a fee). The cover image and the article itself both show kitchens from Used Kitchen Exchange, by the way.
I had never come across the concept of buying and selling used kitchens before. I’ve had basically the same kitchen furniture and appliances since moving into this house 20 years ago, however, so it’s definitely something I shall consider now!
If you have any comments or questions about this post, as always, please do leave them below.
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We’ve all been there. An unexpected bill comes in and you don’t have the money in your account to pay it.
There are various possible solutions to this dilemma, so in this article I’ll set out some options that are open to you.
1. Short-term borrowing
If you know you will have the money within a few weeks, short-term borrowing can be a sensible solution.
If you have a credit card – and can pay the bill this way – you can take advantage of the interest-free period. So long as you pay off the balance by the due date on your monthly statement, it won’t cost you anything extra. I don’t recommend drawing cash using your card, however, as interest starts to accrue immediately if you do this and rates are generally high.
Short term loans are another possible solution if you need help paying bills. This method has the advantage that you get the cash straight into your bank account, and if you apply online you can often access the money within a day. Clearly if you use this method there will be interest to pay, so look for a company that will let you pay off the entire loan at once and aim to do this as soon as you possibly can.
2. Selling on eBay
Another good solution if you have a bit of time is to have a clear-out of things you no longer need and put them up for sale on the online auction site eBay. All sorts of things sell here, and if you have never tried selling via the site you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is.
Basically, you just log in and go to my eBay, then click on the Start Selling button. Enter a short description and eBay will display some similar items, each with a message under it saying “Sell One Like This”. Click on that and you can use the item in question as a sort of template (although clearly you shouldn’t copy it word for word!). This can be a great way to raise a useful sum of money quickly, and as long as you are selling your own possessions (not buying to resell) it’s tax-free too.
3. Visit a Car Boot Sale
This is the low-tech option for selling unwanted goods, but it can work very well as a way of generating cash quickly. Check the local paper for sales in your area – they are generally held at the weekend. You can also do an online search for “Car boot sales in Mytown” or whatever.
When going to a car boot sale, aim to arrive early to get a good spot, and take plenty of change with you. Assume everyone will want to pay with notes! Know the price you want for the products you are selling, but be prepared for people to haggle. It’s generally best to ask for a bit more than you expect to get, so you have some room to negotiate.
4. Sell on Shpock or Local Facebook Pages
This is another good option for selling unwanted items. Shpock describes itself as “the boot sale app”. It’s available for both Android and iOS. You can advertise products to people in your area via the app and buyers will come to collect the goods in person. This and Facebook local pages can be good ways to sell anything which is difficult for whatever reason (e.g. size or weight) to send in the mail.
5. Sell Unwanted Gift Vouchers on Zeek
If you have unwanted gift vouchers, did you know you can sell them for cash on the Zeek website? Both physical and electronic vouchers can be sold (and bought) this way. Obviously you won’t get the full face value and there is a modest charge to pay. But if you’re in a fix and need money fast this is definitely worth considering, especially if you don’t have any other use for the voucher/s concerned.
6. Try Matched Betting
This is a money-making method I have described on various occasions on this blog. It’s a way of making risk-free (and tax-free) cash by taking advantage of bookmaker special offers and promotions.
Matched betting is perfectly legal and (done properly) it’s not gambling. You can join an advisory service such as Profit Accumulator or Odds Monkey and they will take you through two or three money-making opportunities for free. After that, if you wish to continue, there is a small monthly charge. Note that matched betting may not be an option if you live in a state or country that bans online betting.
7. Get Temporary Work
Jobs may be harder to find these days, but there is still plenty of short-term/temporary work available if you look for it. Some of this is seasonal, e.g. many companies take on extra staff to help them cope with the Christmas rush (Amazon being one well-known example). Another option is helping at elections, e.g. as a poll clerk or vote counter. It is generally a long day but decently paid. Inquire with your local council if there are any opportunities in your area.
8. Become an Extra
If the prospect of appearing in TV shows or movies doesn’t put you off, being an extra has much to recommend it. The work is interesting and varied, although it can also involve a lot of standing around, and doing the same thing over and over until the director is satisfied with the shot. You won’t get rich working as an extra, but the pay isn’t bad either, and you get free meals as well! Apply via an extras agency in the first instance.
9. Do Online Surveys
This is another popular option for people wanting to raise money. Payments aren’t generous but the work isn’t too taxing, and over a few weeks (or longer) you can generate a decent sum. Prolific Academic and Panelbase are two of my favourite survey sites, but there are plenty more around if you look for them.
10. Offer Your Services as a Freelance
There are lots of possibilities here, from copywriting to photography, social media management to website design. Set up accounts on sites such as Upwork and People Per Hour and you will be able to bid for any job advertised that suits your skills and talents. Admittedly it can take a little time to get established on these sites, but once you have your first few jobs under your belt (and good feedback from clients) more work is very likely to follow.
I hope the list above will give you some ideas of ways to deal with cashflow problems caused by bills. If you have any other comments or suggestions, as always, please feel free to post them below.
Disclosure: this is a sponsored post for which I am receiving a fee.
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In this post last year I discussed cashback sites and how you can save money on your shopping by using them. Today I want to go a step further and show how you can make money from them too.
I’ll be revealing six different strategies you can use to make money via cashback sites, and specifically Quidco and Top Cashback, the Big Two in the UK. Do just bear in mind that offers on these sites change frequently, so I can’t promise that all those mentioned below will still be available when you read this – but others (possibly even better) will undoubtedly have appeared as well.
Let’s get started then…
(1) Free Offers
Both Quidco and Top Cashback list offers where you can make money simply by asking for a quote or performing some other action.
For example, on Quidco you can get 50p at the time of writing just for ordering a free SIM card from GiffGaff and £6 for activating it – while on Top Cashback you can get £2.30 by requesting a quote for your car insurance from Confused.com.
To find free offers on Quidco, click on Offers in the main menu, then click on the Free Cashback tab. On Top Cashback free offers can be accessed on the right of the main menu, under the FreeMoney tab.
(2) Cashback Arbitrage
This is my name for offers where you get more cashback than you actually spend with the retailer, giving a guaranteed profit overall.
This type of offer is mainly the province of online bingo and gambling sites. They clearly hope that once you’ve joined you’ll carry on playing even after you have met the minimum requirement for cashback. So if you think you might be drawn into gambling, you may prefer to give these offers a miss.
Nonetheless, there are some great, guaranteed money-making opportunities out there if you apply them correctly. For example, if you join Gala Bingo via Quidco and deposit and wager £10, you will get £60 cashback. That’s £50 clear profit, and more if you make any money from your wagering.
Top Cashback have a range of offers, including £20 cashback if you deposit and bet £10 on the Betfair betting exchange (new customers only).
(3) Utilities and Comparison Sites
If you’re thinking of switching your energy or telecoms supplier, there is free money to be made on cashback sites.
Both Quidco and Top Cashback list comparison services who will pay cashback if you switch suppliers through them. For example, if you join uSwitch via Quidco and change energy supplier through them, you will currently get £15 cashback for a single fuel and £36 (recently increased from £30) for duel fuel.
Alternatively, if you know the supplier you want to switch to, you may be able to get cashback from them. On Top Cashback you can get up to £100 if you switch to a duel fuel deal with npower, or £68.25 with British Gas.
There are also some great cashback offers if you want to switch telecoms/broadband provider. For example, on Top Cashback, BT Broadband are currently offering new customers up to £175 cashback if they sign up for their broadband, phone and TV service.
(4) Financial Services
You can also get free money by applying for a credit card through a cashback site or starting an ISA or pension through them.
On Top Cashback you can currently get £52.50 cashback if you apply for a Tesco Premium credit card (and are accepted). Also on Top Cashback you can get up to £255 cashback if you sign up for an ISA (Individual Savings Account) with Scottish Friendly.
And on Quidco you can get £55 cashback if you transfer a pension of £2,000 or over to PensionBee, an online pension management service.
Clearly before applying for any financial product or service you should research it carefully and ensure it will meet your needs. Nobody should make financial decisions based solely on the cashback available. Nonetheless, if this is a service that meets your needs, you may as well grab the cashback too.
(5) Events and Promotions
Both Quidco and Top Cashback regularly run special events and promotions to encourage people to check out their offers, with prizes including cash and free draw entries.
The promotions typically tie in with times of year, e.g. Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas. These are basically a bit of fun, but worth doing if you have the time, as they are free to enter.
(6) Introducing Others
Finally, you can make money by introducing friends and family to these sites. Offers change from time to time, but typically you are paid between £5 and £15 when someone joins via your link and earns cashback themselves. You may get more commission if you are a premium member. Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, so if you click through and sign up with Quidco or Top Cashback, I will get a small commission.
In conclusion, I hope this post and my previous one have opened your eyes to the money-saving and money-making potential of cashback sites. Sign up to both sites today and start building your cashback over the coming weeks and months!
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If you’re looking for an enjoyable sideline that can bring you both cash and freebies, product testing could tick all the boxes for you 😉
A growing number of companies now engage freelance reviewers to help them with product testing and development. This feedback is important to them to ensure they are producing things the public will want to buy, so they are happy to send out products free of charge to achieve this.
How It Works
Product-testing opportunities are generally advertised via company or agency websites.
The businesses concerned send out sample products free in exchange for honest reviews. Reviewers get to keep the products they are sent, and in some cases receive a fee as well. Fees may be paid in cash or gift vouchers.
The type of review required varies. In some cases you may be asked to complete a questionnaire, in others to upload a review to Amazon or some other retail site. There are also opportunities for people who have their own blog or website to get free products for reviewing on them.
Here are seven of the best product-testing websites to get you started.
This is a paid surveys site, but they also offer free products for review. Once you have joined and signed in, go to the “Test Products” page under the “Community” tab and choose the item you want. If you are selected to provide a review, your product will be sent in the post.
Tesco Home Panels offer free products of all types from Tesco – anything from cat litter to clothing. You need to have a Tesco Clubcard to be accepted for this one. As well as keeping the products you review, you are credited with points which can be converted to £10 “Bonusbonds”. You can use these at a number of retailers (not only Tesco).
High street chemist’s Boots recruit people to test a variety of skin-care products, cosmetics and toiletries. As well as home-based testers nationwide, they require people to attend on-site sessions at their Product Evaluation Centre in Beeston, Nottingham. Payment for the latter is from £10 to £125. You need to live within 30 miles of Beeston to apply for these paid sessions.
Clicks Research conducts product trials for a range of top brands, including Liz Earle, Sanctuary, Marks and Spencer and The Body Shop. They also run surveys. You get Clicks points for completing these, typically 25 to 200 per survey. Once you’ve earned 2,500 points, you can exchange them for £25 cash.
As well as the Clicks Research main panel, you can apply to join their “Sensory Panel”. This involves taking a short online training course. You can then join their on-site food-hall trials and focus groups. You get to enjoy free products on the day with these and a cash reward too.
Savvy Circle is a product testing site for Proctor and Gamble products, including food, health, cleaning and laundry products, cosmetics, and so forth.
This site works a little differently in that as well as giving feedback on products, you’re expected to mention them in everyday conversation and online. The site awards stars each time you contribute to a “campaign”, e.g. by submitting a report on a chat you had with a friend or commenting on a blog. The more stars you get, the more freebies you’re awarded.
This is another survey site that also dishes out freebies. Register to complete surveys and you’ll occasionally receive invitations to take part in product trials. It’s worth signing up for the surveys anyway, as you’re awarded points for doing them that are converted to Amazon vouchers. You get points for taking surveys on the free products you receive too.
Amazon Vine is the product testing arm of the world’s favourite online store. As a “Vine Voice” you get to choose from a selection of products on sale at Amazon. All you have to do is test and review the products on Amazon and you can keep them.
The one drawback with Amazon Vine is that you can’t apply for it. You have to wait for an invitation to arrive. You can improve your chances of this happening by regularly leaving good-quality reviews of things you buy at Amazon.
I have been a Vine Voice for several years now and highly recommend it. As I said in this blog post, as a member I have received some great freebies, including an expensive memoryfoam mattress, a lawn-mower and a £1000 gaming laptop. So it really is worth making an effort to get into this if you can. Once you are accepted, as long as you review the items you receive, the freebies will keep on coming for as long as you want them.
More Top Tips
As mentioned earlier, if you have a blog or website you may be able to get free products in exchange for agreeing to review them on your site. You may also be able to earn extra fees by including an affiliate link to the business concerned, e.g. via the Awin affiliate marketing platform.
One thing you aren’t normally allowed to do is sell on the freebies you receive. Amazon in particular are very strict about this and will terminate your Vine membership if they discover you are doing it.
You can also make money testing company websites and reporting back on them (although of course you don’t get to keep the websites!). Two sites to check out for this (both of which I have mentioned on PAS before) are What Users Do and People For Research.
As ever, if you have any comments or queries about this post – or any other product testing websites you recommend – please do leave them below.
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Lots of us have belongings we seldom use but don’t want to get rid of. If that includes you, rather than letting them gather dust, why not have them make money for you by renting them out?
This is another manifestation of the so-called sharing economy, where people make money and save money by sharing items of all kinds. The trend has been driven by peer-to-peer rental websites such as Rent Not Buy, Rent My Items and Zilok. These sites make it easy for would-be lenders and borrowers to find each other and agree terms.
People can list items on the sites they are willing to lend, along with what they are charging and any special conditions (e.g. whether a returnable deposit is required). Would-be borrowers can then contact them directly or via the site.
Most peer-to-peer rental websites don’t charge for listing items. They typically make their money by taking a cut of the fee paid and/or other methods such as advertising.
What Can You Lend?
The range of items listed on peer-to-peer rental sites is huge.
At one end of the scale is industrial and agricultural machinery. At the other is household items such as cameras, tents, power drills, computers, kitchen equipment, and so on.
Fashion and beauty is another popular area, with people (mainly women, I assume!) offering to lend their handbags, designer shoes, ball gowns, and so on.
Other items regularly offered include musical instruments and equipment, art and collectables, disability aids, bicycles and cars, and even boats.
Lenders can specify dates when an item isn’t on offer if they will be needing it themselves. A facility is provided on most rental sites to allow borrowers to check whether a particular item is available on the dates they want it.
What Can You Earn?
Lenders specify a rate per day, week and/or month. Obviously, the more valuable the item, the more borrowers would expect to pay. Here are a couple of example items from the Rent Not Buy website.
(1) 5m bell tent
Location: York
Minimum rental period: 3 days
Rate: £20 a day or £100 a week
Deposit required: £150
Other requirements: Photo ID required.
(2) Canon 550D camera with two lenses and a battery pack
Location: Bristol
Rate: £10 an hour, £20 a day or £60 a week
Minimum rental period: 1 day
Deposit required: £150
Other requirements: Must return in same condition and without any damage. Memory cards must be wiped on return. Cannot be rented for more than 2 weeks.
If you want to hire out possessions of your own, the best plan is to search Rent Not Buy and the other sites mentioned above and see what people are charging for similar items. This should give you a good idea of “the going rate” for whatever you want to lend.
More Tips
Here are a few more tips for anyone hoping to make money this way.
Clearly you should take sensible precautions to minimize the risk of loss or damage to your possessions. Always check a potential borrower’s feedback on their public profile. This will reveal what other lenders have said about their experiences renting to this user.
Asking for a deposit is another safeguard. It’s also a good idea to ask the borrower for proof of identity (a driving licence or passport, for example) and take a photo of this.
Insurance is also a consideration. Some of the more specialized rental sites (see below) provide insurance for lenders so they are covered if their item is damaged. With expensive items especially it is important to check what cover is on offer from the rental site, and also whether your normal household insurance would pay out in a worst-case scenario.
As well as the general sites already mentioned, there are specialist sites that are worth considering for more expensive and/or unusual items. Examples include Spinlister for bikes, The Handbag Rental for designer handbags, and Curtsy for fashion clothing.
Remember that any money you make from lending possessions counts as taxable income and should be declared to HMRC. Failing to do this could land you with a tax bill and a fine on top if they find out.
Even if you don’t have any items you want to rent out at the moment, you can still save money by using peer-to-peer rental sites to borrow products you only need occasionally.
Good luck, and I hope you make lots of money from the sharing economy!
If you have any comments or questions about this post, as always, please do leave them below.
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A few weeks ago in this post I discussed People for Research, a website that pays people to take part in consumer research.
Today I want to share with you another website that pays people to help companies with their research. What Users Do has some similarities with People for Research. Unlike PfR, though, it is entirely focused on website testing.
What Users Do recruits people to visit and test websites from home, and pays them £5 per test for doing so. Tests typically take around 15 minutes, so it’s not a bad rate of pay. A few longer tests pay more, up to £25 in certain cases.
To work for What Users Do you will need a microphone (or headset) to record your commentary. Some tests have to be done on a desktop computer, others a mobile phone, so ideally you should have both. There is no need for any particular technical skills, though.
How to Apply
The application procedure for What Users Do is quite straightforward. You start by filling in an application on this page of the WUD website.
You then have to download their proprietary screen-recording software and complete a short test with it. This involves visiting a sample website and recording a commentary mentioning any issues you can see with the site and how you think it could be improved. My own attempt at this was pretty stumbling, but I was still accepted without quibble.
Once you are on the panel, you will be notified by email any time a new website test is available for you. You can then click through the link in the email, answer the screening questions and – if you are accepted – proceed to the test itself.
Payment for all completed tests is made via the online payment platform PayPal. You are paid on the 25th of each month for tests completed the previous month.
What Will You Be Testing?
You won’t be surprised to hear that the sites concerned are wide-ranging. They include some well-known brands such as Channel 4, Virgin Atlantic and Asos, and others you probably won’t have heard of.
In each case you will be given detailed instructions by What Users Do about what they want you to do in your test. This may involve finding certain information or products on the website, checking the menu navigation, and so on. Clearly, whatever instructions they provide, you should follow them to the letter.
More Top Tips
Here are a few more tips on making the most of What Users Do.
You are likely to get screened out of quite a lot of tests with What Users Do. Often they have very specific requirements, e.g. if it’s a website about caravans they might only want caravan-owners to comment. This can be frustrating, but if you are patient and persistent you will definitely find tests you can do.
Tests fill up quickly, so it’s important to keep an eye on your email. If an invitation pops up, click through to it as quickly as possible.
Depending on the quality of the tests you complete, you can expect to receive more and better-paying opportunities. So it really is important to give them your full concentration. This is definitely not something to do while watching the telly!
Speak slowly and clearly during the tests and try not to lapse into long periods of silence. Aim to describe exactly what you are doing step by step as you are doing it.
What Users Do run easy monthly competitions for panelists with cash prizes, and these are well worth entering as well.
Another way you can make money from WUD is by referring friends or colleagues. You will get a small cash payment once they have completed their first website test.
In my view What Users Do is another opportunity well worth adding to your sideline-earning portfolio.
If you have any comments or questions about What Users Do, as always, please do leave them below.
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